June Blog Challenge Photo Edit

Spring is blossoming into Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and that means more photo taking around here! The pocket pages last month were lovely and we adored seeing all the different styles on a the simple pocket page. ♥

Our May Challenge Winner is: Carrie

~~ Congratulations, Carrie!

Please contact me via the contact form here on the site so I can send you a $10 gift certificate to use in the store.~~

This month we changed it up a little.

You can scrap your page however you’d like, using any of the Etc by Danyale products, and just include a simple softening photo edit – the photo and memories is a huge part of memory keeping.

Laurie has offered a way to show you how to give a photo that soft, dreamy quality. This effect is especially nice for close-ups and portraits because it softens the photo and minimizes details that might be distracting.

Here is the sample photo to be softened:

The screenshots are for Photoshop Elements, but it should be similar in other programs. First, duplicate the background layer by either dragging the image layer upon the Create a new layericon(first icon on the left) in the Layers palette, or by clicking Layer/Duplicate Layer on my top menu bar. After duplicating, select the upper level and keep it selected for the next step.

Now it’s time to set the blur to that top layer. From the top menu bar select Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur and use a fairly high Radius value in the box that appears, which makes the image really blurred. I set my value at 10. (It is recommended that you use lower values when working with small pictures, and higher values when working with large ones.)

Next, go back to the Layers palette and set Opacity to 30%. A higher value will produce a stronger softening effect, and a lower value will provide a lighter softening effect. Play around with it until you like the result. Below, it was set at 30%.

The final step is to bump up the Brightness and/or Contrast as the blurring tends to mess with them. So, flatten the image (merge the layers in the layers palette) by selecting Layer/Flatten Image in the top menu bar. Then select Enhance/Lighting/Adjust/Brightness & Contrast in the top menu bar. Here is where you adjust the brightness and contrast to your liking. I bumped my contrast up to 25 and left the brightness as is. Feel free to experiment with these values to get a “dreamy” quality to your liking. When you are happy with your adjustments, click OK.

Here is the final photo after the adjustments:

Now it’s your turn! Show us your softened photos this month.

The details are simple:

If you scrap with a new release the first week within its release, you will get an extra entry point. For example, Danyale has a new kit that releases on the 1st, you purchase that kit and scrap a layout with it posting it by the 8th and now you get two entries instead of one.

Upload your layout and post it here for us to gush over by midnight EST on Thursday, June 30, 2016.

We will choose our favorite page to receive a $10 coupon to Danyale’s store.

I love this type of challenge – practicing a new technique challenges me in a fun way. Here is the link to my layout featuring a photo of my daughter and granddaughter. I used the new BYOC kit Jars& Blooms for the majority of the layout – recoloring or adjusting lighting for a few elements to better match the photo. A few small elements were taken from other BYOC designers.http://the-lilypad.com/forum/galleries/bloom-etc_dan-june-chall.256159/